Stupidity and the randomness that Japan (or luck) can bring you

Yesterday, I finally decided on the class I want to replace with Adachi's culture class. I decided to take Takahashi's class since it would be a different experience than what I normally take back at home (Japanese or Engineering usually) and that I could find out more about Japanese Business and what all cultural things related to it.
I was in a hurry though to get to class and catch the next bus, so I rode my bike to the station and forgot to lock it.

Bad decision really on my part. I returned to the station and it was gone. I searched for 2 hours in the area around the station and everything, but it was gone. However, somewhere in my mind said I would find it eventually.....and sure enough what prediction that can bring.....

The next day, I told office Iijima san about what happened and she made me file an official report with the police. She said Usui-san was on vacation until Monday, but I could borrow one of the school bikes until Monday. So, after what seemed to be an hour shifting through all the bikes the school owned (which were a lot), we found one in good condition and I borrowed it. For about five minutes. Sure enough, once I had parked the bike and went on to class, I found my bike parked, right near Chea Moi at school. The lock was still in the basket. I was baffled at this. I rushed back to Iijima to tell her about the good news, and locked my bike after the incident.

Yoshiko thought some youths probably took it, but I figured someone else must have mistook it for their own bike. It's kind of hard to do that because my left handbar was flipped upside-down from clipping a pole, the seat had a hole in it and the basket was kind of torn. Doesn't sound like something that would get easily confused with another bike. Anyway, the randomness of Japan kicked in again and it seemed just a coincidence that the same person that took my bike was a student at the same school as I am. Japan is NOT completely a crime-free country, as you should watch yourself if you're in unfamiliar areas. You should also as general practice keep your property safe, no matter how busy you are. Yes, it's true that you can leave things in the basket of your bike here and go into a grocery store and come out with your stuff still there, but it's better safe than sorry.



(The area around the station)